The present invention relates to a recording medium playback device capable of playing back a recording medium already recorded with information or of recording information on an information-recordable medium, and more particularly to a recording medium playback device which is reduced in size to facilitate its installation in vehicles.
Among the conventional recording medium playback devices capable of playing back a recording medium already recorded with information or of recording information on an information-recordable medium (hereinafter referred to as a playback device) is a playback device which has a plurality of recording media automatically arrayed and accommodated inside the playback device and which selects an arbitrary recording medium for playback, as described in JP-A-10-337145 previously filed by the applicant of this invention.
This playback device a is shown in FIG. 25. When a user inserts a recording medium c from an insertion opening b, drive rollers d are automatically rotated in synchronism with each other, loading the recording medium c into the interior of a case. When the outermost peripheral edge of the recording medium c on the carriage chassis g side abuts against a stopper e, the recording medium c is stopped to prevent its excess insertion and then installed into a vacant tray f standing by at the insertion position. Then, when the recording medium c is to be played back, the carriage chassis g is pivoted clockwise about a support shaft h as a pivoting axis by a predetermined distance to have its turntable i and clamper j face the bottom side and top side of the recording medium c, respectively, and then performs a clamping action to clamp the recording medium c. Then, a pickup k is slid in the radial direction of the recording medium c by a pickup moving mechanism m to read information recorded in the recording medium c, thus starting the playback. In this figure, the direction in which to load the recording medium is taken as an X direction, the direction in which to clamp the recording medium is taken as a Z direction, and the direction perpendicular to the X and Z directions is taken as a Y direction.
Considering the X-direction distance traveled by the pickup k (diameter of the recording medium c) and the mounting position on the carriage chassis g of the stopper e that abuts against the outermost peripheral edge of the recording medium c, the playback device a needs a depth L1+L2+L3, which is a sum of the X-direction distance L1 traveled by the recording medium c from the insertion opening b to the tray f along its loading center line (diameter of the recording medium c), the X-direction distance L2 along the loading center line of the recording medium c traveled by the carriage chassis g having a guide member n and a feed screw o spaced apart for sliding the pickup k, and the clearance distance L3 between the recording medium c and the carriage chassis g in the X direction along the loading center line of the recording medium c.
For that purpose, the depth L1+L2+L3 required by the playback device a must be secured to some extent. In recent years, an instrument panel arranged at the front part of the cabin of vehicles is provided with an accommodation space having a dimension compatible with a predetermined standard, for example, DIN (Deutsches Institut fur Normung). That is, unless the playback device a has a depth L1+L2+L3 that fits in this standardized dimension, the front panel of the playback device a, when the playback device a is installed, may protrude from the accommodation space in the instrument panel. If the playback device a is mounted in the instrument panel in such a condition, the differences in the depth dimension between the playback device a and other devices mounted vertically above or below the playback device a cause steps to be formed between the protruding front panel of the playback device a and those of the other devices, making them difficult to use or impairing the appearance. Further, a gap between the playback device a and the accommodation space of the instrument panel caused by the protruding front panel will likely allow dirt or dust to enter into the interior of the playback device a, leading to a failure of the playback device a.